Woman mistakenly transfers S$1000 from DBS to friend’s closed UOB account; still no resolution from bank after more than a year

A concerned member of the public took to social media to ask for help after mistakenly transferring S$1,000 to a closed bank account and waiting over a year without a resolution from the bank.

“Terrible incident and issue not resolved till date!” wrote the Facebook page Complaint Singapore member on Thursday (Sept 15).

She explained having wrongfully transferred through PayNow S$1,000 to a friend’s closed account on Feb 7, 2021.

Despite calling the bank immediately, she was informed that the bank couldn’t stop the transaction from DBS to UOB.

A police report was made on Mar 8, 2021, and they eventually got a cheque from UOB on Oct 25, 2021; however, it bounced due to the wrong submission of the name of the joint account.

“My friend went to DBS bank as DBS mentioned they had returned the cheque but sent it to the wrong address,” said the concerned individual.

After being assured by DBS that a replacement cheque from UOB would be processed, nothing arrived for two months.

A second police report was made on Apr 8, 2022, for the same case but with a new investigation officer (IO).

“The IO informed us that he will check with the bank on the status and update us,” said the original poster.

“The waiting game started again, and we had been chasing till we got an update that the bank disclosed it as confidential. The IO mentioned that we’re able to get back the money but need to wait for his update before we submit to MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore),” she explained.

After multiple calls to the IO, the woman discovered that the IO was on a two-month leave.

Finally, she was told that the bank was processing the refund and would take 14 working days, which should fall on Sept 8, 2022.

“And once again, we have not received the refund and the waiting game start again,” said the distressed individual who wished to resolve the issue as it has been more than 1.5 years.

The original poster admitted that they were at fault for the wrong transfer and missing a name on the joint account cheque, as they weren’t aware they needed to fill in both names.

Suggestions given to them were already taken, except going straight to MAS. “So, we will proceed to email them,” she added.

“A developed country with such banking services which really need to think over to eradicate such incidents not to be delayed so long, especially we are in a digital banking environment already. It’s feeling unsafe, not worthy to go digital,” commented Facebook user Vic Cheong on the post.

Others wondered how the transaction pushed through when the destination was a closed account. “If the account has been closed, shouldn’t the transaction be rejected?” asked Facebook user Zaiton Jaffar.

“Make a formal complaint to MAS about your case and said the follow-up from UOB very slow. Write a few more complaints if no response,” advised Facebook user Raymond Yong.

The Independent Singapore has reached out to UOB for a statement. /TISG

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